Chairman’s Walk 27 December 2021
Belper Coppice Car park
9 miles with a 6-mile cut off.
Depart 10 a.m. Leader: Howard A.
Weather 9°C. overcast
No. on walk 8
With a four-day holiday period to go at, there has been several walks on offer throughout the holiday, so a low turnout is understandably not surprising, although of course we always hope for more. The weather and muddy conditions would also contribute to this.
We set off on time and soon were striding away at some rate of knots, which we couldn’t sustain once the hills out of Belper came into play, but thereafter we kept up a steady pace and also gave us time to see some of the points of interest along the way. We went via Cow Hill, Wildersley Farm to Shaw Lane and then descended Dark Lane into Makeney. At Makeney we marvelled at the weirs stretched across the River Derwent and not only saw but heard the power of the river, in near to flood conditions, such the power of nature to turn our heads. We crossed over the A6 noting that some of the former Strutt’s Milford Cotton mill is now being demolished to make way for more housing, the chimney still stands. Earlier we had seen a blue plaque dedicated to George Strutt former owner of Makeney Hall now a hotel.
Once over the bridge we turned the corner, to begin our ascent of Sunny Hill, a straight road that formed the beginning of a climb that seemed to go on for ever, leastways that’s how it felt after the lay of for the Christmas Festivities. At the top we stopped, for our morning break, near to a square building, built on a hill used for sightlines in construction of the railway tunnel beneath and for the running of the railway. Near to it and on the adjacent golf course was the round tower of one of the airshafts.
The best part of the walk came next as we followed the route of The Midshires Way, along North Lane over the Chevin into Farnah Green, two of our number leaving here and taking the shorter route option to return to Belper. The rest continued along the Midshires Way, stopping for lunch in the woods above Lumb Brook. With the lunch over we descended to Blackbrook and crossed over the A517 into Chapel Lane for a short way, then to take the path to Handley Grange, turning to walk a short section of the Midshires way, before descending across the fields to Belper Lane End. From here we walked into the muddy Wyver Farm and then followed the Derwent Valley Heritage Way, via Wyver Lane, back into Belper. Recrossing the River Derwent near to East Mill, witnessing once again the power of the river as it surged over and under the weirs and various ducts, once used to power the mills on the river banks. From here it was an easy walk back up to the car park arriving there by a commendable ten past two. A good walk with not as much mud as expected, but it certainly blew the cobwebs away.
